1 . I still remember that busy autumn evening as I hurried with my eldest daughter, Athena, to get to her classroom on time for the parent-teacher night. We walked in and all eyes were on me. A few adults quickly quieted their kids’ whispers. A classmate yelled to my daughter, “What’s wrong with your mom’s face?” Shocked, I started to explain my condition, but my six-year-old daughter looked at him and said, “It’s my mom’s birthmark! Don’t be rude!” I was extremely proud of how she handled that situation.

I was quite young when I realized I looked different because of my large facial birthmark. I always thought I would be alone because of it. Being compared to Batman’s evil Two-Face made me believe I could never find love. But I was lucky enough to meet my husband, who saw me for who I am inside. When I had my first daughter, I was overjoyed, but I began to worry if the world would judge my children. I always worried I might pass my condition onto my children; I didn’t want them to grow up feeling judged. Unfortunately, my facial difference has impacted my children. My daughters get disinvited from birthday parties or sleepovers, or I learn certain kids are no longer friends with mine after their parents saw me at school.

When my kids were young, I explained how my special purple skin was rare and we talked about acceptance and never judging others on how they look. When my girls kiss my purple-skinned cheek, I feel “normal” around them and their unconditional love. With time going by, both my daughters have become my strongest supporters. Thanks to them, I’ve begun to feel more self-confident as I try to be a good role model.

Their worldviews are similar to mine. We see the world a little differently and with a kinder, more accepting heart. As the saying goes, your daughters will grow up to be your best friends. I know that will be the case for me!

1. What happened when the author went to attend the parent-teacher night?

A．Athena was praised by others for her bravery and optimism.

B．Athena defended her mother against her classmate’s rudeness.

C．Some parents criticized their kids because of their misbehaviour.

D．The author felt shocked at her daughter’s response to her classmate.

2. According to paragraph 2, which of the following views might the author agree with?

A．Friendship needs to be watered by love.

B．We should treat our children as best friends.

C．We should accept other people’s differences.

D．Our ability to handle difficulties can be developed.

3. How are the daughters influenced by the author’s birthmark?

A．They have to drop out of school.

B．They have the same physical condition as me.

C．They have difficulty maintaining friendships.

D．They feel worried because they are often judged.

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A．A birthmark to live with.	B．My strongest supporters.
C．A kind and accepting heart.	D．The confidence to be different.

2 . There are many kinds of friends. Some are always ______ you, but don’t understand you. Some say only a few words to you, but understand you. Many people will step in your life, but only ______ friends leave footprints.

I shall always recall (回忆) the autumn and the girl with the ______. She will always bring back the friendship between us. I know she will always be my best friend.

It was the golden season. I could see the ______ leaves floating (漂浮) with the cool wind. In such a season, I liked walking alone in the leaves, ______ to the sound of them.

Autumn is a harvest season and life is uninteresting. The boring days always get me ______. But one day, the sound of a violin flowed into my ears like a stream (小溪) flowing in the mountains. I was so surprised that I jumped to see what it was. A young girl, standing in the wind, was ______ in playing her violin.

I had ______ seen her before. The music was so nice that I listened quietly. Absorbed in the music, I didn’t know that I had been ______ there for so long but my existence (存在) did not seem to disturb her.

Leaves were still falling. Every day ______ she played the violin in the comer of the building, I went downstairs to watch her performance. I was the only listener. The autumn seemed no longer lonely and life became ______. Though we didn’t know each other, I thought we were already good friends.

Autumn was nearly over. One day, when I was listening carefully, the sound suddenly ______. To my surprise, the girl came over to me.

“You definitely like violin.” she said.

“Yes. And you play very well. Why did you stop?” I asked.

Suddenly, a ______ expression appeared on her face and I could feel something unusual. “I came here to see my grandmother, but now I must leave. I once played very badly. It was your listening every day that encouraged me.” she said.

“______ it was your playing that gave me a meaningful autumn,” I answered, “Let’s be friends.”

The girl smiled, and so did I.

I never heard her play again in my life. Only thick leaves were left behind. But I will always remember the fine ______ of the girl. She is like a dream—so short, so bright, like a shooting star giving off so much light that it makes the autumn beautiful.

1.

A．against

B．for

C．with

D．to

2.

A．true

B．humorous

C．funny

D．old

3.

A．leaves

B．violin

C．play

D．song

4.

A．yellow

B．purple

C．green

D．blue

5.

A．turning

B．referring

C．seeing

D．listening

6.

A．down

B．off

C．up

D．over

7.

A．busy

B．interested

C．lost

D．active

8.

A．often

B．once

C．never

D．usually

9.

A．standing

B．stopping

C．waiting

D．hearing

10.

A．because

B．so

C．but

D．when

11.

A．moving

B．interesting

C．encouraging

D．exciting

12.

A．stopped

B．began

C．rose

D．changed

13.

A．surprised

B．happy

C．strange

D．sad

14.

A．In conclusion

B．In fact

C．In short

D．In total

15.

A．figure

B．symbol

C．expression

D．sun

4 . Happiness is for everyone. You don’t need to care about those people who have beautiful houses with large gardens and swimming pools or those who have nice cars and a lot of money and so on. Why? Because those who have big houses may often feel lonely and those who have cars may want to walk on the country roads at their free time.

In fact, happiness is always around you if you put your heart into it. When you are in trouble at school, your friends will help you; when you study hard at your lessons, your parents are always taking good care of your life and your health; when you get success, your friends will say congratulations to you; when you do something wrong, people around you will help you to correct(改正) it. And when you do something good to others, you will feel happy, too. All these are your happiness. If you notice them, you can see that happiness is always around you.

Happiness is not the same as money. It is a feeling of your heart. When you are poor, you can also say you are very happy, because you have something else that can’t be bought with money. When you meet with difficulties, you can say loudly you are very happy, because you have more chances(机会) to challenge yourself. So you cannot always say you are poor and you have bad luck. As the saying goes, life is like a revolving(旋转)door. When it closes, it also opens. If you take every chance you get, you can be a happy and lucky person.

1. Happiness is for_________.

A．those who have large and beautiful houses	B．those who have cars
C．those who have a lot of money	D．all people

2. When you do something wrong, _________.

A．you may correct it	B．you will have no chance to challenge yourself
C．anybody will laugh at you	D．you will be happy

3. Which is the title of the passage?

A．Do Something Good to Others	B．Happy and Lucky
C．Happiness	D．Life and Success

5 . 阅读下面短文，根据短文内容填空，在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的单词。在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

Discovering yourself     1     (play) an important role in inspiring your confidence. By     2     (do) so, you could know what you are weak in. And you may also realize you’re quite a great person     3     great strengths. So when you’re in a hard situation, you will believe in     4     (you) and spend the most difficult time with confidence. Otherwise you may give up and then lose everything. Therefore, the ability to trust yourself will decide your future a lot.

7 . A man was fishing on the bank of a river. A boy came to see him fishing. The man was really good at fishing and he could catch a full basket of fish in a short time. The man saw that the boy was very cute, and he wanted to give him a whole basket of fish. But the boy shook his head. The man was surprised and asked, “Why don’t you want the fish? ”

The boy replied, “I want the fishing rod(竿)in your hands.”

The man asked, “Why do you want the rod? ”

“I will eat up all the fish in the basket soon, but if I have the fishing rod,I can use it to catch a lot of fish by myself.”

Many people will certainly say the boy is very smart...wrong! If he doesn’t know fishing skills. He can’t catch fish without a fishing rod. It’s useless to only have a fishing rod, fishing skills are more important than having a fishing rod.

Many people want to have a “fishing rod” in their life. They are just like the boy, they thought that if they had a fishing rod, they would have fish to eat. Life is full of exciting things, we should try to learn fishing skills instead of having a fishing rod.

1. The man was fishing on the bank of________.

A．a river

B．a lake

C．a pool

D．a sea

2. Many people thought the boy was________after he explained why he didn’t want the fish.

A．smart

B．silly

C．wrong

D．hardworking

3. Life is full exciting things,we should try to________.

A．fish

B．eat fish

C．learn fishing skills

D．have a fishing rod

8 . There was a park near my home. But I didn’t go there very often, many people said there was nothing ______ . One afternoon, I went into the ______ and found it was really small. I walked ______ because there wasn’t much to see. I walked for some time and found myself ______ in front of two paths. “Which way should I go?” asked myself, looked at one way, then the ______. I found that the two paths were different from each other.

The left one was wide and clean. There were lots of ______ on both sides of the path. Though the flowers weren’t beautiful, they made me feel good. I ______ to take this path. But wait! I looked at the right one, the path didn’t look nice, it looked like it had not been cleaned for months.

Grass grew ______. For a long time, I couldn’t make up my mind.

After a while a strange feeling made me follow the ______ path. It wasn’t nice, but I didn’t want to ______. At last, I came to the end of the path. Ah! There was a small garden there. It was beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful garden I had ever seen. There were trees, flowers and chairs. I thought it was the ______ part of the park.

Many people told me that there was nothing much to see in the park. Now I’d like to tell them that if they had ______ the right way, they would have felt differently. But when I told them about what I had seen in the park, they just smiled at me without saying a word. I knew they didn’t believe me. They couldn’t even remember that path ______ it was too small.

My trip to the park that day made me understand something about ______. Don’t be afraid to choose a ______ path. You may get a big surprise!

1.

A．special

B．common

C．difficult

2.

A．house

B．park

C．mountain

3.

A．quickly

B．slowly

C．lazily

4.

A．sitting

B．lying

C．standing

5.

A．another

B．other

C．others

6.

A．grasses

B．trees

C．flowers

7.

A．decided

B．destroyed

C．demanded

8.

A．anywhere

B．everywhere

C．nowhere

9.

A．clean

B．clear

C．dirty

10.

A．give up

B．give in

C．give out

11.

A．worst

B．nicest

C．softest

12.

A．discussed

B．played

C．followed

13.

A．so

B．because

C．but

14.

A．life

B．path

C．book

15.

A．similar

B．small

C．different

10 . 阅读下面短文，根据上下文连贯要求和句子结构，在空格处填入一个适当的词或使用括号中单词的正确形式。

An old woman had     1     cat. The cat was very old. She could not run     2    (quick), and she could not bite,     3    she was so old. One day, the old cat saw a mouse. She jumped and     4    (catch) the mouse. But she could not bite     5    , so the mouse got out     6    her mouth and ran away.

Then the old woman became very     7    (anger) because the cat did not kill the mouse. She began to hit the cat. The cat said: “Do not hit your old servant (仆人). I     8    (work) for you for many years, and I would work for you still, but I’m too old. Do not be     9    (kind) to the old, but remember     10     good work the old did when they were young.”